open § everything i'm not made me everything i am

[designerebel]

[ OPTION ONE ]

Ask and you shall receive. It's been months ago that Cinna has requested an area to work in. The hotel has given him a space on the first floor near the cafe. Supplies have been gathered and the space redone to accommodate Cinna and his craft. That's right, there's officially a clothier's shop in the hotel. Cinna is indeed in his element.

Upon first entry to the shop it looks very unassuming and casual. There's the mixed aroma of freshly brewed tea and coffee as well as some pastries brought over from the cafe. The front half of the shop holds everyday clothes that seem to be the norm of what most of the people in the hotel wear, things like tees and sweaters and jeans and shorts. In the middle of the shop there's a round dark mahogany table with three high-backed plush armchairs around it. The armchairs are cushioned black with golden embellishments. Toward the back is where Cinna's influence shows through more prominently; clothing, both everyday and formal with unique and futuristic flares and touches. It's Couture at its finest. There are tall, large mirrors in the back as well as dressing rooms.

It should also be noted that as he has befriended both Milady and Aramis, there is attire befitting both men and women from their time period in Paris. Beautiful gowns and carefully stitched shirtsleeves and doublets. Cinna is always accommodating and will take special orders all day every day.

Outside of the space is a bracket with a swinging sign placard bearing the shop's name in an elegant golden script: Design by Cinna.

Cinna can almost always be found at the mahogany table in the center of the shop, sitting in one of the chairs with material draped over his lap and needle and thread in hand. He'll welcome anyone to his new shop. Please feel free to stop by!


[ OPTION TWO ]

Oftentimes Cinna can be found in the conservatory, sitting among the plant life and sketching new designs. It's peaceful in there. He'll greet and chit chat with most anyone who happens upon him.

However, one day he opens a door that he thinks goes to his hotel room but finds himself in the outdoors instead. The environment is boisterous and loud, crowds walking through fairways and strange music in the air. The sky is blue overhead, with the occasional cloud here and there. There are shops and tents and big contraptions with some kind of transport on them that has people screaming as they zip over rails.

Cinna, coming from Panem, has never seen anything like it. A man comes by and offers him a stick with a ball of pink cotton on top of it. What is it? He sees someone else with something similar eating the cotton. So he pinches some off and puts it in his mouth. The sugary sweetness surprisingly melts in his mouth.

Certainly, a place such as this can't be anything bad, right? Cinna is off to explore the amusement park.

Comments

[designerebel]

Home can be such a subjective thing, Cinna knows. As he can't return to his own home, he tries to make the best of wherever he is. There really is no alternative at the moment. He's glad to help others in that vein of thought. He's glad to help people make the best of this place, even if they're stuck here against their will, even if they have a home they can return to.

When he sees the new face enter the shop, he allows her some time to look on her own. You can tell a lot about a person by what fashion they gravitate toward. Only when she's lingering in one place for some time does he set his things aside and go to find her. She's by one of the elegant gowns he's fashioned. Cinna loves that piece for the amount of work he put into it, the amount of care he put into each stitch, each embellishment. Cinna pours his heart into his work.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" He says, hands held together behind his back. Today Cinna is in a pair of slacks, dress shirt and fitted vest. His eyes are lined with gold. His nails painted black and gold. "I don't think we've met. I'm Cinna." He nods his head in a respectful greeting.

[apetrocchi]

Angelica was startled out of her fantasy, but there was no way around that, no matter how gentle the approach, because she was completely lost to the world as she stared at the gown that had captured her fancy.

"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," she said, with all the sincerity that was in her. Her cheeks turned red as she said it, the contrast between the image in her mind -- Angelica in a gown like this one, at home with such elegance -- and the everyday reality of introductions seeming harsh and difficult to bridge.

"I'm, umm, Angelica," she said, looking down in confusion.

[designerebel]

"Angelica. What a beautiful name. It's a pleasure to meet you." Cinna's eyes are kind, his demeanor soft and understanding as always. His approach is always gentle, understated, calm... until it's not. He is somewhat of a madman, after all, hidden behind the persona he puts out into the world.

Cinna reaches one elegant hand out to run slender fingers over the fabric. He pulls up some of the skirt where intricate bead work is artfully placed in swirling designs. "See how it glimmers in the light? The beads change color depending on how the light hits them."

It's obvious that he loves his work. He takes pride in it. He also takes pride in finding the perfect human match for his work. This dress is calling out to Angelica in every way. "Would you like to try it on, Angelica?"

[apetrocchi]

"Oooooo," Angelica said appreciatively, reaching out to touch the beads lightly. See how they shimmer.

When he asked about trying it on, it was like he had read her mind. Angelica's flush deepened with the thought that she was so obvious, but she wasn't about to pass up the offer.

She raised her chin, and finally met Cinna's eyes. What she saw there made her smile in a way that showed a flash of genuine pleasure beyond the self-consciousness. "There's nothing in the world I'd like more," she said with total frankness. "Any world."

[designerebel]

Cinna's eyes flash with excitement as well. He has no reason to hide his own excitement at seeing the garment on her. This is what he loves to do, after all. And while in Panem he might have tried to keep many of his true emotions hidden, there is no reason for that here, especially about this.

"We can absolutely make that happen. In fact, I insist." He pulls it off the display, untying ribbon laces that hold the upper torso corset tight. He gathers up the fabric in both arms.

"Dressing rooms are over here. Once you get the dress on, come out here to the mirrors and I'll help tighten the laces for you." After laying the dress on a bench in one of the dressing rooms, he turns to smile excitedly at her. "I can't wait to see it on you."

[apetrocchi]

Angelica gave a little bounce and then a slightly nervous giggle as she followed Cinna to the dressing room, but Cinna's clear excitement loosened something inside her; she was unselfconscious and smiling widely as she promised, "You won't have to wait long."

Alone with the gown, Angelica took a moment to hold it up against her body, savoring the anticipation of wearing it. Then she took a moment to examine it more closely for just how the fastenings worked and how it was meant to be worn and how to get into it. She'd never worn anything like this; she didn't want to get it wrong.

When she emerged from the dressing room, the laces were still loose and the gown was just a little long on her, but her eyes were bright and she stepped into the light with a little extra flare calculated to make the beads shine. She'd tried that out -- just once -- in front of the mirror. But as she stepped forward, her eyes abandoned the mirrors and sought out Cinna, full of hope.

[designerebel]

While Angelica is in the dressing room, Cinna finds some hairpins and a silken ribbon that's a similar tint of the satin in the dress. He has a notebook and a tape measure and a few straight pins as well. He's fully prepared when she exits the dressing room. And when he sees her, the way the dress is truly hers, he smiles. It isn't all that often that there's a match so perfectly made.

"Absolutely lovely. I can tell that you feel lovely as well." It's in her smile, in her eyes, in the way she's carrying herself. A perfect match.

Cinna is buzzing, in his element in every way as he leads her over to an elevated pedestal for her to stand on. He gets behind her and weaves the ribbon into her hair before pinning bits of it up to accentuate her neckline and the low cut neckline of the dress as well. It only serves to add an air of elegance to the moment.

Angelica is reflected in a semicircle of mirrors so she can see herself. "This is making my entire week, Angelica. I hope that you'll indulge my creativity for just a few more moments if you aren't in a hurry."

[apetrocchi]

"Oh," Angelica said faintly, examining herself in the mirror once Cinna had added the finishing touches. She wasn't sure she recognized herself -- would anyone recognize her?

And would it be such a bad thing, she thought defiantly. She'd started off looking for home, and she'd found this instead.

She reached up to touch the ribbon in her hair, didn't quite dare examine the neckline, except to think that it must be just as it should, because she was certain that Cinna wouldn't steer her wrong. Cinna would know what was right for his gown.

"I'm not in a hurry at all," she said softly. And purely in the spirit of curiosity: "What are you going to make of me?"

[designerebel]

There's a moment where everything clicks together between a person and what they're wearing. Cinna gets to witness those moments, the moments where a person feels like the best version of themselves just because of the work that he put into a garment. He's just witnessed that with Angelica and even though it's her confidence, her happiness, her beauty inside and out, he feels such a high from the periphery of it.

"Oh Angelica, there is little to make of it as this is you in every way." He says.

When she says she's not in a hurry, Cinna hurries away to get a small box and return. He gets up on the circular pedestal with her and asks her to close her eyes here, open them there, adjust her lips just so. When he's done, her eyes are lined with dark kol to make them pop. The corners of her eyes and some underneath are outlined with tiny golden gems.

Last, but not least, he moves behind her to clasp a chandelier necklace, beads interconnected and entwined with one another cascading from her neck with barely visible wire so that it looks like the beads just float against her skin.

He steps back to eye her appreciatively and smiles. "Now. What do you think?"